Good Time - Review

Good Time

After a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in prison, Constantine "Connie" Nikas (Robert Pattinson) embarks on a twisted odyssey through the city's underworld in an increasingly desperate and dangerous attempt to get his brother Nick (Benny Safdie) out of jail who has a mild form of mental dysfunction. Over the course of one 24 hour adrenalized filled night, Connie finds himself on a mad descent into violence and mayhem as he races against the clock to save his brother and himself, knowing their lives hang in the balance.

REVIEW: “Good Time" started out with a blast as one of the more unconventional films I have seen all year. Robert Pattinson (The Twilight Sagas) exudes a lot on screen charisma and believability as this low life petty criminal sort of living off the land even if the land is New York City. He moves about with the primal instincts of a lion on the hunt for the next meal. But Pattinson acting prowess alone here is not enough to keep this helter skelter plot afloat for its 1:40 minutes running time. “Good Time” is essentially about a man spiraling downward running out of options to getting his brother out of jail. And just like the premise itself, the construct of the films writing, supporting characters and general flow of the film itself seems to rapidly spiral downward along with it.

Overall the film gets stale very quickly as the plot and lead characters get boiled down to being about absolutely nothing that really matters. And by the end of the film you either forgot what all of the craziness was for, how stupid the decisions that were made and how repulsive these people have become that you either simply don’t give a damn that this was all for the purpose of getting Nick out of jail, forgot Nick was in jail or you simply didn’t care anymore that Nick was in jail. Count me as I didn’t care anymore voting side.

Rotten Tomato has this film with a score off 88. That is completely nuts as “Good Time”, is too dark, cold and aloof with way too much over the top amateurish acting, not to mention a screenplay that is far more hollow than it was ever interesting or compelling.

Rent at your own peril.

1.75 Stars